The Finanser’s Week: 11th May 2020 – 17th May 2020

The main blog headlines are …

Dealing with a crisis: FinTech versus Bank

The chasm between start-ups and incumbents is massively exposed by coronavirus. I realised this early on, when I saw that FinTech firms who were born on the internet were far more ready for working from home than traditional banks who depend on branches, buildings, office …

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Financial Inclusion

I spent some time recently chatting with Joanne Dewar, Chief Executive Officer, Global Processing Services (GPS). I spotted GPS a while ago, and blogged about how they worked with Monzo, Starling, Revolut and more last October. Anywho, Joanne wrote a brilliant piece on the Nasdaq …

The failure of banks (#coronavirus)

The other day, I blogged about the failure of government in this crisis. Today, I’m blogging about the failure of banks. I am aware that in some countries – the Netherlands seems to be one – there has been great continuance of bank service. Unfortunately, …

Free research: Open Banking, Mobile Money and Digital Currency

I just found three interesting management reports. One is a survey from Salt Edge on the lack of success of the use APIs and Open Banking, two years after the introduction of PSD2; the second is from the GSMA on the state of mobile financial …

You might be staying in more than you expect

When Digital Human came out, its subtitle was The Fourth Revolution of Humanity includes Everyone. The premise was based upon humanity entering a fourth phase where every human on Earth could connect with every other human on Earth by just having a mobile telephone. Not only …

 

And the main news headlines are ….

How will Britain dig itself out of a £300bn coronavirus hole? - Guardian
Despite the deficit heading for a peacetime record, today’s Tory party has little appetite to repeat austerity Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Millions of workers in Britain have been furloughed but the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) has never been busier. The government body responsible for

Open Banking Europe publishes draft signature standards for bank APIs - Finextra
Open Banking Europe, the entity operated by EBA Clearing subsidiary Preta, has published a draft API signature specification, as part of an attempt to provide a coherent standard for fintechs connecting to bank APIs.

UK property market could fall 13%, housing experts predict - Guardian
Wide range of forecasts as market cautiously reopens after coronavirus shutdown Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Economists and housing experts are forecasting UK-wide price falls of up to 13%, with “brutal” declines in some areas, as the property market struggles to rebuild during the coronavirus crisis.

Banking: the great return to the office - Financial Times
Antibody testing, temperature monitoring and social distancing are among the challenges ahead

Resurgent Wall Street disconnected from reality on the ground - Reuters
With the U.S. economy facing its potentially deepest economic decline in nearly a century, Wall Street is pulling further and further ahead from Main Street.

Barclays still banking on climate breakdown - Ecologist
A quarter of Barclay's shareholders voted in favour of the bank abandoning investments in climate breakdown driving fossil fuels.

Bitcoin 'halving': What does the much-hyped event mean? - BBC
Investors are debating what impact the adjustment will have on the cryptocurrency market.

Unemployment due to Covid-19 is surely worth more than a footnote | Larry Elliott - Guardian
The mental and physical stresses caused by fear of layoff have left many workers feeling suicidal Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The number of jobless people in the US rose by more than 20 million in April , something deemed worthy of a mention in the

Andrew Bailey needs to be more convincing about the path to recovery - Guardian
The new Bank of England governor’s predictions about a swift bounce-back don’t inspire confidence Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, is only a few months into the job and already his reputation for sound management of the economy is in danger. Last week he published a scenario

Coronavirus: What shape will the recession be? - BBC
As the world braces for recession, a look at the four letters that could indicate the way the economy recovers.